Bash the Bishops!

£37,000 to £41,000 plus benefits. Incredible. We can't even raise £100,000 for a Church building that is falling down and feed the hungry on the soup run and the Catholic Bishops Conference is advertising for a lucrative post for Marketing, PR and Fundraising! Meanwhile, the same Bishops are closing Church buildings around the country. Outrageous, scandalous and shocking! Bash the Bishops! Marketing and PR, eh? Well, here's some marketing and PR for you. £41,000 a year to 'raise the profile of the Catholic Church in the UK'? I can't wait to see some of the marketing ideas because coming at that price, they're bound to be well worth it! I fear, however, that this could see the roll out of the biggest nationwide parish Church poster campaign for FairTrade tea, coffee and cakes in the history of the World...ever! It'll probably be digital and involve widescreen plasma TVs.

At least we know the person hired will be solid and orthodox in their Catholicism because the post is being advertised in The Guardian, that bastion of religious freedom, respect and firm and loyal Catholic identity! Also, I'm sorry, but am I missing something? There are Priests, bloggers, widows and lay people doing more to 'raise the profile of the Catholic Church in the UK' than any marketing, PR executive possibly could and certainly more than the Conference of Bishops. Why? Well, people can tell we're not doing it for the money!

It is funny, isn't is, that the Bishops of England and Wales so rarely comment on the exponential growth of Catholic bloggers in the new media raising the profile of the Church and the Faith of Christ while the Holy Father commends us. I mean, anyone would have thought that they didn't appreciate it at all, really. Good grief! £41k!

How much was St Francis paid when he 'raised the profile of the Church'? Maybe the Bishops should take a leaf out of Pope Sixtus V's book, who, I learned very recently was a Franciscan Cardinal who upon being voted into the Papacy threw down his crutches, stood upright and exclaimed, "All my life I have sought the key of Heaven and now I have found it!" He went on to continue to live Franciscan poverty, cut costs dramatically and improve the lot of the Poor and all the needy of Rome and found time to drain the marshes, which may sound a footnote but I'll bet they needed draining! Bishops! For the love of God and His Church! Drain your marshes and start with this marsh, the position of Development Manager! I remain the Pope Benedict XVI's humble and obedient servant and yours!

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